Dr Dawn Bearden and Visionary Eyecare (Independent Doctor of Optometry Next to Lenscrafters) have moved out of their location next to Lenscrafters. Visionary Eyecare and Optometrist, Dr Dawn Bearden were located next to Lenscrafters in Pembroke Pines and Sunrise (INSIDE SawgrassMills Mall) for almost 15 years but, have now relocated to East Ft Lauderdale.

Eye Doctor, Dr Bearden is still seeing patients in Broward County and now seeing her patients for eye exams in East Ft Lauderdale at Fort Lauderdale Eye Care & Eyewear located at 1489 SE 17th St Suite 2J in Fort Lauderdale FL 33316. The office is on 17th St Causeway – just west of the 17th St bridge, Port Everglades and Bimini Boatyard. We are in the Southport Shopping Plaza with Office Depot and Ross. We are on the second floor – above Wells Fargo Bank and next to Diamante Day Spa.

All patient records and all of the high tech computerized equipment from Visionary Eyecare have been moved to this new location on 17th St in East Ft Lauderdale.

We are sad to leave all of our friends at LensCrafters but, it was time to move on. We will miss LensCrafters but, we are excited for our new venture at Fort Lauderdale Eye Care & Eyewear. Call us if you need an appointment for an eye exam 954-763-2842

Around 10 million school children in America have vision conditionsthat can negatively affect learning. This can be prevented by taking kids to get their first formal eye exam with an Eye Dr in an Eye Clinic BEFORE they enter school. A child’s first eye test with an Eye Doctor should be done between ages 3 and 4. At Visionary Eyecare in Pembroke Pines, Sunrise (Next to Lenscrafters) and Davie (Next to Pearle Vision) – our Optometrists, Dr Bearden, Dr Tenn and Dr McCulloh, begin to see children at age 4.

Allen Picture Cards

A child does NOT need to be able to verbalize or know their alphabetfor the examinerto perform a comprehensive eye examination.

There are numerous eye charts for children!!

Lea Flip Chart

Allen and Lea charts have pictures or shapes on them that youngsters can identify. The Broken wheel chartallows the child to tell the examiner which wheel on the car is “broken” . The Tumbling E chart (also known as the illiterate chart) allows a child to just POINT in the direction that the “legs of the E” are pointing in.

Allen Picture Eye Chart

Often our children can not express to us when they are having problems with their vision. They may not even realize that they are experiencing vision problems. Sometimes children will try to compensate for vision issues by closing one eye, rubbing their eyes excessively, squinting, skipping over words or loose their place when they are reading.

Kids may start having difficulty in school due to an “unknown” reason. A recent study indicated that up to 60 percent of youngsters that have been identified as “problem learners” or “learning disorder” actually suffer from an undetected visual condition.

Tumbling E Eye Chart

A vision problem is not suspected in many children because they were able to pass the school vision screening or the pediatrician vision screening. These children may still have visual issues but, they were not detected on the screening. Only a comprehensive eye exam, done by an Eye Doctor (Optometrist or Ophthalmologist) will be able to detect subtle vision problems.

Broken Wheel Eye Test

Vision issues need to be detected and corrected before age 7 to prevent lifelong problems such as lazy eye (amblyopia), eye turn (strabismus), learning disabilities and behavior problems.

As reported on Twitter by Prevent Blindness America and Prevent Blindness Florida (@PBFlorida), the Florida House of Representatives adopted HR 9095, a resolution recognizing the seriousness of sports-related eye injuries in children and the importance of sports eye safety to protect the children of Florida.

Eye injuries are the leading cause of blindness in children in the United States, and 90% of these injuries can be avoided with the use of protective eyewear. Prevent Blindness America applauds the Florida House of Representatives for their commitment to children’s eye health. For more information about sports eye injuries and how you can protect your child’s sight, visit the children’s sports eye safety section of the Vision Learning Center.

Dr Dawn Bearden, Dr Anna Kay Tenn, Dr Emily McCulloh and Dr Alyx Lin at Visionary Eyecare in Pembroke Pines and Sunrise routinely ask about children’s sports and hobbies during the medical and social history portion of the eye exam. Children under the age of 12 are routinely given a prescription for polycarbonate lenses for their eyeglasses. This polycarbonate material is more impact resistant – which is important for children due to their active lifestyle. If a child participates in any impact or ball sport – then the eye doctors at Visionary Eyecare will also recommend sports goggles for eye safety.

Sports goggles are excellent for protecting your eyes (in BOTH adults and children) while playing any type of impact or ball sport such as basketball, racquetball, soccer, baseball, softball, tennis, rugby etc. Many eye injuries can occur from a ball or racket hitting you in the face near the eye – or an impact with another player’s elbow, knee, head etc. while playing the sport.

Some serious eye health issues that can occurfrom these impacts include retinal detachment, subconjunctival hemorrhage (bright red blood spot on the white of the eye), ocular inflammation (iritis/uveitis) and even cataracts or glaucoma that can occur YEARS after the injury to the eye.

In persons under 25 years of age, ocular trauma is the number one cause of visual loss.

The above video is a report of the Annual AOA (American Optometric Association) American Eye Q Survey for 2008.

It states that 81% of Americans wear contact lenses, eyeglasses or both.

Unfortunatley 26% of them have not visited their Optometrist or other eye doctor in 2 or more years.

Many eye care professionals – including each Eye Doctor at Visionary Eyecare in Pembroke Pines, Davie and Sunrise – strongly recommend that you have a yearly eye exam because most eye and vision problems cause NO obvious signs or symptoms. Often there can be a serious eye health problem such as a retinal hole, retinal tear, glaucoma, eye cancer, tumors in or behind the eyes and many more that oftenDo NOT cause any noticeable vision blur, headaches, eye pain, eye pressure etc. Frequently these conditions easily go by unnoticedand you are unaware that there is any problem or issue without having a comprehensive eye exam done by your eye doctor.

Unfortunately, most Americans are unaware that eye examinations can detect more than just vision and eye health problems. Through comprehensive eye exams and optometrist can detect signs of diabetes, high blood pressure, brain tumors, cancer, heart and cardiovascular problems, high cholesterol, Mutliple Sclerosis (MS) and more…

This is a great video (BEST VIEWED THROUGH YOUR FIREFOX WEB BROWSER) about a kid who is having his or her FIRST eye examination. When a child enters an eye clinic for the first time – there is usually some apprehension and fear (for both the child… and the parent!).

Viewing this great video with your child prior to having an eye exam can help explain some of the vision tests that the Eye Doctor and his/her support staff is doing. It will also help you and your child become more comfortable with what goes on during an eye exam. Believe it or not….an eye exam can be a lot of fun!

Visionary Eyecare provides eye exams for children at all 3 of our Broward County / Ft Lauderdale area Locations – Pembroke Pines (next to Lenscrafters), Davie (next to Pearle Vision) and Sunrise (Next to Lenscrafters and INSIDE the Sawgrass Mills Mall).

We are providers for EyeMed and this excellent video was provided by EyeMed Vision Care.

If you are having trouble viewing this video…

You can see the video on the right side of this blog under the sidebar category “Visionary Eyecare VODPOD videos” (It is called: Video – Child’s Eye Exam) ….you can find it if you look on the right side of the blog at the sidebar categories and scroll all the way down 🙂

Illinois recently passed a law that intends for ALL children to receive a comprehensive eye examination from an Eye Doctor before entering school – so no child from Illinois will fall between the cracks of the “vision screen” system. Here in South Florida at Visionary Eyecare, we see WAY too many children that have significant visual problems that were simply NOT picked up on these school or pediatrician vision screenings. When a child has a vision problem and it is not detected and treated early enough – this can lead to a LIFETIME of vision problems.

Please click on the above picture to sign a petition to fully support this legistlation by incorporating a Vision First Exam Form. This exam form will insure that the children are receiving very thorough and comprehensive eye exams from an Eye Dr before they attend school.

We want to support Illinois every step of the way so hopefully they will support Florida on day in passing similar legislation one day for our children!!